The Cal Poly Initiative for Climate Leadership and Resilience (ICLR) will hold its third annual Climate Solutions Now Conference from Oct. 25 – 27.
ICLR is an organization on Cal Poly’s campus aimed towards educating people on climate change and sustainability issues. The Climate Solutions Now Conference is a fundraising event that will bring together students, government employees, faculty, industry professionals and more to hold conversations about potential environmental solutions and how people can implement more sustainability practices within their everyday lives.
The conference will feature talks from 11 sectors: energy, environmental justice, science and education, water, forest carbon and earth observation, science and education, campus sustainability, climate communications, the built environment and business sustainability.
Speakers from NASA, the California Department of Water Resources and the CEO of the Climate Center will make appearances at the conference.
ICLR Director, environmental activist and mathematics professor Erin Pearse is preparing for the conference this month. He said he wants students to expose their minds to new material and engage with it and to become a part of the solution in an impactful way.
Pearse went on to encourage those students to “make use of [their] skillsets and career paths,” rather than simply recognizing that there is an issue and not continuing forward to act on the issue or propose some sort of change.
“Many bystanders recognize it’s a problem and just say ‘that’s a shame,’” Pearse said. “One of our speakers is a woman who makes dog food, but she makes it out of crickets.”
The conference will be held virtually and is open to anyone. Tickets are now on sale on the ICLR website, starting at $10 for students and are $30 – $40 for the general public.